Framing Fires: A country-by- IUCN country analysis of forest and land The World Conservation Union fires in the ASEAN nations Prepared by European Union Dr. David Ganz Project FireFight South East Asia P.O. Box 6596 JKPWB Jakarta, Indonesia Tel: +62 251 622 622 Fax: +62 251 622 100 www.pffsea.org IUCN The World Conservation Union IUCN - World Headquaters Rue Mauverney 28 CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 999 0001 Fax: +41 22 999 0002 ASEAN nations in the and land fires A country-by-country analysis of forest Framing Fires: www.iucn.org WWF International Avenue du Mont-Blanc CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 364 9019 Fax: +41 22 364 064 www.panda.org/forests4life Panda Symbol © 1986 WWF ® WWF Registered Trademark Framing Fires: A country-by- country analysis of forest and land fires in the ASEAN nations Prepared by Dr. David Ganz Cover photos: Background picture: Eucalyptus plantation in Congo by Dr. Takeshi Toma, CIFOR Four small cover pictures from left to right: Efforts to extinguish fires East Kalimantan in 1998; © WWF-Cannon/WWF Indonesia Forest fires in Kinabatangan, Sabah in 1998; © WWF-Cannon/WWF Malaysia Haze from 1998 fires in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; © WWF-Cannon/WWF Malaysia Forest fire in Costa Rica by Stephen Homer, ACDI-CIDA Large cover picture: Kahayan River Under Smoke (d) © WWF/ Alain Compost Project FireFight South East Asia is a Global Initiative of IUCN – The World Conservation Union and WWF – The World Wide Fund for Nature funded by the European Union and supported by the US Forest Service This publication was prepared by staff and consultants of Project FireFight South East Asia. The analyses and assessments contained herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Project FireFight South East Asia, or IUCN, the World Conservation Union and WWF, the World Wide Fund for Nature. Project FireFight South East Asia does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this publication and accept no responsibility for any consequences of their use. © Project FireFight South East Asia 2002 ISBN 979-3260-10-6 Published by Project FireFight South East Asia P.O. 6596 JKPWB, Jakarta, Indonesia Printed in Indonesia For more information on Project FireFight South East Asia, visit http://www.pffsea.org Preface The forest fires of 1997 and 1998 created enormous ecological damage and human suffering and helped focus world attention on the problem. There is a growing concern that action is needed to catalyze a strategic international response to forest fires. There are no ‘magic bullets’ or ‘instant solutions’. The issues to be addressed are complex and cut across many interests, sectors, communities, nations and regions. Many believe that action only takes place when fires are burning, with little attempt to address the underlying causes. For that reason WWF - The World Wide Fund for Nature and IUCN - The World Conservation Union have joined forces to develop Project Firefight South East Asia to secure essential policy reform through a strategy of advocacy using syntheses and analyses of existing information and new outputs. More specifically, the project aims to enhance the knowledge and skills of key stakeholders with regard to forest fire prevention and management and, where necessary, to facilitate the adoption of new and/or improved options. The project works at the national and regional levels across South East Asia to support and advocate the creation of the legislative and economic bases for mitigating harmful anthropogenic forest fires. The problem of forest fires lies beyond the capacity of national governments and international organizations to handle alone. This is why the project pursues a multiple stakeholder approach, working closely with WWF’s extensive network of National Organizations and Program Offices in South East Asian, IUCN’s broad-based membership, world-renowned scientific commissions, and collaboration with ASEAN governments, UN agencies, EU projects, GTZ, CIFOR, ICRAF, RECOFTC, academia and the private sector. The project ensures popular participation, public awareness, policy outreach and programmatic impact in connection with fire-related issues. Within the South East Asia, the project undertook studies and organized conferences, workshops, and meetings focusing on three areas of fire management: community-based fire management, legal and regulatory aspects of forest fires, and the economics of fire use. Resulting from these activities are the identification of political, private sector and civil society stakeholders and the legal, financial and institutional mechanisms appropriate to South East Asia that can positively influence their fire-related behavior. In addition, national and international policies, which promote or fail to discourage forest fires, are identified. This report documents and analyses the understanding of land clearing and preparation issues from the industry perspective, as discussed in the workshop “Land Clearing on Degraded Lands for Plantation Development” that was organized with support from Sarawak Timber Association in Kuching, 24-25 October 2002. This work is seen as a first step towards best practices guidelines for fire and non-fire use for land clearing and preparation on degraded land. It is anticipated that the result will promote and encourage the use of alternative methods of fire use, such as zero burning, and support relevant stakeholders, particularly South East Asian governments and private companies, in formulating appropriate solutions for more responsible fire use. iii Acknowledgements Dr. David J. Ganz prepared this report for Project FireFight South East Asia. Members of Project FireFight South East Asia commented on the draft of this report. In addition, ASEAN and its country contacts were consulted for comments. Their inputs and comments have been integrated into this final version. The author would like to thank the members of Project FireFight South East Asia who provided endless support, assistance, constructive advice and prepared the layout of this report. iv Table of Contents Preface iii Acknowledgements iv Table of contents v List of figures vi List of tables vii List of abbreviations viii Introduction 1 Regional Overview 2 Brunei Darussalam 6 Cambodia 11 Indonesia 18 Lao PDR 26 Malaysia 32 Myanmar 41 Philippines 48 Singapore 54 Thailand 57 Vietnam 65 References 74 v List of Figures Figure 1: ASEAN Member countries 4 Figure 2: Current Management Structure of the Brunei Fire Service 8 Figure 3: Organization Chart of Department of Forestry and Wildlife, Cambodia 15 Figure 4: Fire Management Structure of Malaysia’s Fire & Rescue Department 36 Figure 5: Forest fire management organization in Malaysia 37 Figure 6: Monthly summary of fire occurrence and area burned in calendar year 1995 52 Figure 7: Types and area of ground cover burned in the Philippines in 1995 52 Figure 8: Current Management Structure of Thailand’s Fire Control Division 60 Figure 9: Vietnam’s forest fire prevention and suppression structure 69 vi List of Tables Table 1: Change in Forest cover by forest type between 1973 and 1993 12 Table 2: Causes of the 1997/1998 forest fire in Indonesia 20 Table 3: Indonesia’s Land Use Cover Types Affected by Fires in 1994 23 Table 4: Estimated extent of fire-affected forests and other lands in Indonesia, 1997-98 24 Table 5: Overview of area burned in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, in 1997-98 related to land-use classes and damage levels 24 Table 6: Lao Government Laws related to forest fire management 29 Table 7: Malaysian forest cover by region 2001 33 Table 8: Summary of Forest Fire Events in Peninsular Malaysia (1992-1998) 34 Table 9: Aggregate incremental costs of the damage caused by smoke/haze in 1997 35 Table 10: Total burned area recorded in Peninsular Malaysia (1992-1997) 39 Table 11: Emergency Calls to Malaysia’s Fire and Rescue Department in 2000 and 2001 40 Table 12: Loss of Life and Property Due to Fires by Year in Myanmar 45 Table 13: Loss of Property and Life Due to Fire in Myanmar and the Estimated Loss In Kyat 46 Table 14: Natural disasters and their impacts on the people of Myanmar over the last century 47 Table 15: Philippines’ Forest Types, Area Covered and Percentage of Total Land Area 49 Table 16: Proportion of Forest Types in Thailand 58 Table 17: Legal Constructs in Thailand for Fire Prevention 60 Table 18: Number of Fires and Area burned by Region in Thailand for Dry Period between October 1, 2001 to April 11, 2002 62 Table 19: Number of Fires and Area Burned by Region in Thailand for period October 1, 2002 – April 1, 2003 63 Table 20: Annual burnt areas from forest fire in Thailand 63 Table 21: Land cover change from 1988 to March 2002 prior to the forest fire at U Minh Tong National Park 71 Table 22: Area and Type of Habitat Loss from 2002 fire in U Mihn Tong National Park 72 vii List of Abbreviations ADB Asian Development Bank ALPAP Air Line Pilots Association of the Philippines AFN Asia Forest Network AOPAP Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of the Philippines ASEAN Association of South East Asian Nations ATO Air Transportation Office B$ Brunei Dollars BAPPENAS Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Nasional CBNRM Community-based natural resource management CBFiM Community-based fire management CESVI Cooperazione e Sviluppo CGIAR Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research CIDA Canadian International Development Agency CIFOR Center for International Forestry Research CKN Commonwealth Knowledge Network CRISP Center for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing DANCED Danish Cooperation